The Sheep-pig

<i>The Sheep-pig</i> is one of Dick King-Smith's most famous tales. It shot to further fame when the film adaptation, Babe, was released in 1995. <br><br><b>'Why can't I learn to be a Sheep-Pig?'</b><br><br>When Babe, the little orphaned piglet, is won at a fair by Farmer Hogget, he is adopted by Fly, the kind-hearted sheep-dog. Babe is determined to learn everything he can from Fly. He knows he can't be a sheep-dog. But maybe, just maybe, he might be a sheep-pig.<br><br>'An unexpectedly thrilling, funny charmer of a book' - <i>Guardian</i><br>'Dick King-Smith is a huge favourite with children' - <i>Observer</i><br><br><i>***</i>Winner of the Guardian Fiction Award***<br><br>Dick King-Smith served in the Grenadier Guards during the Second World War, and afterwards spent twenty years as a farmer in Gloucestershire, the country of his birth. Many of his stories are inspired by his farming experiences. He wrote a great number of children's books, including <i>The Sheep-Pig</i> (winner of the Guardian Award and filmed as Babe), <i>Harry's Mad</i>, <i>Noah's Brother</i>, <i>The Queen's Nose</i>, <i>Martin's Mice</i>, <i>Ace</i>, <i>The Cuckoo Child</i> and <i>Harriet's Hare</i> (winner of the Children's Book Award in 1995). In 2009 he was made an OBE for services to children's literature. Dick King-Smith died in 2011 at the age of eighty-eight.